About the MTA Transportation Reinvention Commission

In order to develop strategies to meet future transportation challenges, the MTA has established a special advisory board comprised of 22 experts who make up the Transportation Reinvention Commission. The (TRC) Transportation Reinvention Commission was created at the recommendation of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. In May, Gov. Cuomo urged the MTA to consider changes in customer expectations, commuting trends and extreme weather patterns as it develops future Capital Plans, the multi-billion dollar five-year programs that provide the MTA with the funding necessary to renew, improve and expand the transportation network.

The Commission will be chaired jointly by former U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and former Federal Aviation Administrator Jane Garvey. They will oversee the 22 commission members serving on five subcommittees, each examining a different aspect of the MTA system. Commission members include experts on the MTA network and service territory, as well as other transport networks around the world. Commission members also represent business, construction, planning, transit, finance and advocacy groups, creating a wide range of perspectives on how the MTA should face its future.

The commission will host three public input sessions in July. Following these sessions, the commission will report its recommendations before the MTA submits its Capital Plan to the Capital Program Review Board by October 1. Short-term recommendations will inform the MTA's 2015–2019 Capital Plan, while mid- and long-term recommendations will benefit investment plans well into the future.

The MTA Capital Program has allocated $114.7 billion to rehabilitate the region's mass transit network since it was first established in 1982. Thanks to the formal process for identifying and addressing transit needs in each five-year Capital Plan, MTA customers have benefited from rebuilt tracks, modernized signals, rehabilitated stations and thousands of new buses, and subway and commuter rail cars.

Early Capital Plans focused on rebuilding a network that had fallen into disrepair after decades of neglect and disinvestment; later Capital Plans have enhanced the network with new technologies such as subway countdown clocks, as well as expansions such as the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access. The current 2010–2014 Capital Plan includes $34.8 billion worth of investments in the MTA network, including $4.7 billion to recover from the devastating impact of Superstorm Sandy and almost $5.8 billion to make the MTA more resilient against future storms.